Hello, I’m new around here though I've been lurking for a bit. I’m no stranger to cosplay or crossdressing, (flickr.com/photos/helenalove/) but Animegao Kigurumi is new to me.
I’ve seen Kigs at MCM expo in London, have a slight fascination with masks and well, I ‘aint getting any cuter, but the cost put me off buying a mask. But last November I bought a 3D printer (a Creality CR-10s, which BTW was cheaper than a full kig mask) and have been getting to know it and learning Blender. I’ve designed and built a few cosplay items (mostly for an Overwatch D.Va cosplay) and felt I could now have a go at a Kigurumi mask. I searched around online for free masks, but none took my fancy, so I designed my own original character. She's supposed to be a slightly older chara with a bit of a sly smile. I’ve never worn a kig mask before, only seen them at a distance or in pictures, so was slightly unsure about both the fit and the eye holes, so its all a bit of a best guess. The holes in the top are for ventilation.

It was designed as a sub-div model in Blender and used the Solidfiy modified to give it thickness (It varies between about 1.5mm and 2.5mm). I imported the STL into Cura, which told me it would take about 4 days to print at .2mm layer height…. Yikes. I cut it up into 11 pieces in Meshmixer so each piece took less than 7 hours to print (I don’t like leaving my printer on while I’m at work or overnight, when both my neighbors and myself want a quiet nights sleep) and started printing away in PLA. I set it up the print so it had multiple walls and didn’t need infill, the resultant parts feel strong enough.

What do you think? I drew the eyes on with a sharpie to see how they looked, final version will be printed on my paper with my inkjet. I’m still 3D printing the rest of the pieces, the top right piece is being printed as I type. On reflection I think I cut it into too many parts, the seams are bit ugly. I think it will fit my head, what’s done so far fits but it’s a little snug (its 28cm tall by 23cm wide). The individual parts are glued together with cyanoacrylate with a stip of sheet styrene on the inside to strengthen the joint, with a layer of epoxy resin as well just to be sure. I've dropped 3D printed parts just glued with cyano before learned they're not as strong as they look the hard way. The grey bits on the mask are model filler, just to fill in the seams and some of the layer lines.
After its all printed, had a first pass at sanding and assembled I’m going to give it a coat of XTC-3d to hopefully cover the remaining layer lines and help the seams. After that its going to be more sanding, filling, sanding, priming sanding and more sanding. Who said 3D printers where labour saving devices
As for paint, well, I’m a little unsure, what do most people use? I have a can of Tamiya Flesh Tone spray paint, but I’m not sure its quite the right colour. I was planning on brush painting the lips but perhaps an airbrush would be better, I don’t have one but am thinking about getting one.
As for the hair, none of my regular wigs will fit it. I’ve read a couple of tutorials but am still unsure about frankensteining a few wigs together to fit the head. Actually I don’t even know what style or colour I want yet.
Any input you have would be much appreciated, thanks.
I’ve seen Kigs at MCM expo in London, have a slight fascination with masks and well, I ‘aint getting any cuter, but the cost put me off buying a mask. But last November I bought a 3D printer (a Creality CR-10s, which BTW was cheaper than a full kig mask) and have been getting to know it and learning Blender. I’ve designed and built a few cosplay items (mostly for an Overwatch D.Va cosplay) and felt I could now have a go at a Kigurumi mask. I searched around online for free masks, but none took my fancy, so I designed my own original character. She's supposed to be a slightly older chara with a bit of a sly smile. I’ve never worn a kig mask before, only seen them at a distance or in pictures, so was slightly unsure about both the fit and the eye holes, so its all a bit of a best guess. The holes in the top are for ventilation.

It was designed as a sub-div model in Blender and used the Solidfiy modified to give it thickness (It varies between about 1.5mm and 2.5mm). I imported the STL into Cura, which told me it would take about 4 days to print at .2mm layer height…. Yikes. I cut it up into 11 pieces in Meshmixer so each piece took less than 7 hours to print (I don’t like leaving my printer on while I’m at work or overnight, when both my neighbors and myself want a quiet nights sleep) and started printing away in PLA. I set it up the print so it had multiple walls and didn’t need infill, the resultant parts feel strong enough.

What do you think? I drew the eyes on with a sharpie to see how they looked, final version will be printed on my paper with my inkjet. I’m still 3D printing the rest of the pieces, the top right piece is being printed as I type. On reflection I think I cut it into too many parts, the seams are bit ugly. I think it will fit my head, what’s done so far fits but it’s a little snug (its 28cm tall by 23cm wide). The individual parts are glued together with cyanoacrylate with a stip of sheet styrene on the inside to strengthen the joint, with a layer of epoxy resin as well just to be sure. I've dropped 3D printed parts just glued with cyano before learned they're not as strong as they look the hard way. The grey bits on the mask are model filler, just to fill in the seams and some of the layer lines.
After its all printed, had a first pass at sanding and assembled I’m going to give it a coat of XTC-3d to hopefully cover the remaining layer lines and help the seams. After that its going to be more sanding, filling, sanding, priming sanding and more sanding. Who said 3D printers where labour saving devices
As for paint, well, I’m a little unsure, what do most people use? I have a can of Tamiya Flesh Tone spray paint, but I’m not sure its quite the right colour. I was planning on brush painting the lips but perhaps an airbrush would be better, I don’t have one but am thinking about getting one.
As for the hair, none of my regular wigs will fit it. I’ve read a couple of tutorials but am still unsure about frankensteining a few wigs together to fit the head. Actually I don’t even know what style or colour I want yet.
Any input you have would be much appreciated, thanks.